Miniature tennis game



J. MARAUD MINIATURE TENNIS GAME June 26, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 1, 1961 l/mwrofi deaf/w Mme/1 up J. MARAUD MINIATURE TENNIS GAME June 26, 1962 Filed Mafoh 1, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Arrx 3,041,073 MINIATURE TENNIS GAME Joseph Maraud, 12 Rue de Saint-Marcel, Vernon, Eure, France Filed Mar. 1, 1961, Ser. No. 92,634 Claims priority, application France Mar. 4, 1960 Claims. (Cl. 273-85) My invention has for its object a miniature tennis game and, more specifically, a game of a simple and economical structure which provides extremely attractive and diversified possibilities of amusement, allowing the tennis game to be played within a small-sized area.

A further object of my invention consists in executing such a game in a compact manner within a closed chamber inside which the ball is confined so as to cut out any risk of said ball being projected into the room or the like premises where the game is to be played.

A further object of my invention consists in allowing playing a tennis game, either in accordance with its miniature structure, or else, in a manner more similar to the conventional lawn-tennis game, or again, various modifications of the game such as that known under the nameof pelote Basque or Basque tennis, as played in the southwest of France.

Various features and advantages of my invention will appear in the reading of the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partly elevational, partly sectional View of my improved game.

FIG. 2 is a corresponding plan view.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view partly in longitudinal cross-section of a modified embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional elevational View of a still further embodiment.

Turning first to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the game i constituted by a case of a parallelepipedic shape, made of wood for instance and including a bottom 1, two longitudinal sides 2 and 3- and two shorter transverse sides 4 and 5. Said case, which is open upwardly, is adapted to carry a hood including two solid walls 6 and 7 lying substantially in the planes of the corresponding small sides 4 and 5 and the upper ends of which have an arcuate shape, said hood including furthermore two longitudinal bars 8 and 9 registering with the upper edges of the longer sides 2 and 3 and an upper longitudinal bar 10 extending between the upper ends of the hood walls 6 and 7. The carcass thus provided for the hood is covered by a sheet of transparent plastic material 11 which is glued or otherwise secured to said carcass. Between the middle points of the two bars 8 and 9 there is fitted to the latter, in a vertical plane, through the agency of screws 12 and 13, for instance, a low rectangular metal frame 14 which serves as a support for intertwined plasticized threads 15 forming the tennis net extending substantially throughout the area of saidframe 14.

Inside the case are arranged to either side of the medial plane defined by the net 15 two plates 16 and 17 carried by cleats 18, which plates slope slightly downwardly to either side of said net and extend throughout the breadth of the case down to a line at about one half of the distance separating the net 15 from the corresponding small short side 4 or 5. Transverse vertical partitions 19 arranged substantially in registry with the lower edges of the plates 16 and 17, close the spaces extending under the latter, while they bound, with the adjacent short sides 4 and 5 of the case and the adjacent sections of the longer sides 2 and 3, compartments 21 and 22, in which the balls may drop and collect.

Substantially in horizontal registry with and adjacent 3,041,073 Patented June 26, 1962- the lower edge of each of the plates 16 and 17, there is positioned a spindle 23 or 24 adapted to revolve and to slide freely inside openings formed in each of the sides 2 and 3 of the case. Said spindles, the length of which is about double the breadth of the case, terminate with ball-shaped parts 25 and 26 forming control handles, while each spindle carries radially in its medial section a racket plate 27 or 28 of a rectangular shape, the breadth of which is substantially equal to one half the breadth of the case, while its length is such that it may rest through its free outer edge on the carrier block 29 or 3% provided for it on the small side 4 or 5.

An opening such as 31 is provided in the wall 6 or 7 of the hood in registry with and above the lower location of one of the racket plates 27 or 28; furthermore, a gate is provided in one side of each of the collecting compartments 21 and 22, while suitable means of any description may be used as required to close or uncover said gate when desired. Furthermore, the bottom of the compartments 21 and 22 may advantageously slope towards the corresponding gate 33.

The game thus constituted may be used with suitably sized elastic balls made, for instance, of sponge rubber. A player stands on each side of the net, so as to operate the corresponding spindle 23 or 24 through one of the handles 25 or 26. When beginning a game, one of the players introduces a ball through the opening 31 facing him and he hits it with the racket formed by the small plate 27 carried by his spindle 23 or 24; the ball thus hit should pass over the net 15 and bounce over the plate 17 forming the ground for the other player, who has to return the ball by operating his racket plate 28. The playing may thus continue in the same manner as a conventional tennis game. When one of the players misses the ball, the latter drops into the corresponding collect-3 ing compartment 21 or 22. When the available number of balls has thus collected in the compartments 21 and 22, they are easily recovered through the corresponding gates 33.

In the illustration of a modification in FIG. 3, the same reference numbers provided however with the index A, designate parts similar to those carrying said reference numbers in FIGS. '1 and 2, the difference with the first embodiment consisting in that the racket plate 27A extends now longitudinally over only one half of the space beyond the plate 16A, while its control spindle 23A, instead of being carried in small round openings, is carried, in the present embodiment, in two ports 35, the length of which is sufiicient for said spindle to be given a ftuther degree of freedom in a longitudinal direction with reference to the case, whereby it is possible to make said spindle move nearer or away from the plate 16A, so that the player is allowed to pick up a ball at any point located above the collecting compartment 21A.- In the present case, the latter is provided with a bottom 36 sloping towards the side 4A of the case in which is formed the gate 33A through which the balls may be removed. It is also possible to provide for each racket plate a pair of springs such as that drawn in dotted lines at 37, said springs engaging the spindle 23A to each side of the racket plate so as to urge the latter into a position receding to a maximum with reference to the middle of the game, for which its rear edge 38 may rest on the bearing block 29A. 1

This further degree of freedom bestowed to the racket plate may make the playing of the game more difiicult and therefore more interesting and diversified. It becomes possible, in particular, to make the spindle 23A assume a more or less sloping position with reference to the rear edge of the plate 16A, that is, with reference to a perpendicular to FIG. 3, and, consequently, it is 3 possible to make the racket plate pivot round the spindle thus angularly shifted, whereby a transverse component of a more or less considerable importance is given to the impulse to which the ball is submitted when hit.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, Where the parts equivalent to those described hereinabove, are designated by the same reference numbers provided with the index B, forms a miniature game similar to the so-called pelote Basque game; the wall 713 of the hood forms the fronton wall from which the ball is to bounce back towards the player onto a single ground area constituted by the plate 40 sloping gently from the lower edge 41 or foot of the fronton wall 7B down to the edge 42 registering with the spindle 23B carrying the racket plate 273. In this case, no net is required.

The transparent cover of the hood is constituted furthermore, in the case of FIG. 4, by a transparent fabric or by a lattice work 11B; said arrangement, which is similar in appearance to the lattice-work generally surrounding standard tennis courts, may also be used with either of the precedingly described embodiments.

What I claim is:

l. A miniature tennis game to be played with balls, comprising a generally parallelepipedic case including two longitudinal and two shorter transverse walls, a hood of transparent material adapted to cap said case to confine the balls inside the latter during the playing, a plate forming a tennis ground area inside said case, and the longitudinal sides of which register with the longitudinal walls of the case, at least one of the transverse sides of said area plate being spaced by a perdetermined distance from the adjacent transverse wall of the case, an upwardly open ball-collecting compartment formed in the case between said spaced transverse side of the area plate and adjacent transverse Wall of the case, a plateshaped racket extending above said compartment, a hand-operated revolvable and sliding spindle extending transversely of the case, controlling said racket plate, and the length of which is larger than the spacing between two longitudinal Walls of the case, the transverse size of the racket plate in a direction parallel with the spindle being smaller than the breadth of said compartment, and means for guiding with a clearance said spindle through at least one longitudinal wall of the case.

2. A miniature tennis game to be played with balls, comprising a generally parallelepipedic case including two longitudinal and two shorter transverse walls, said longitudinal walls of the case being provided with openings facing each other, a hood of transparent material adapted to cap said case to confine the balls inside the latter during the playing, a plate forming a tennis ground area inside said case, and the longitudinal sides of which register with the longitudinal walls of the case, at least one of the transverse sides of said area plate being spaced by a predetermined distance from the adjacent transverse wall of the case, an upwardly open ball-collecting compartment formed in the case between said spaced transverse side of the area plate and adjacent transverse wall out the case, a plate-shaped racket extending above said compartment, a hand-operated spindle extending slidingly and revolvably through the cooperating openings in the longitudinal walls of the case, controlling said racket plate, and the length of which is larger than the spacing between two longitudinal walls of the case, the transverse size of the racket plate in a direction parallel with the spindle being smaller than the breadth of said compartment, and the longitudinal size of the racket plate corresponding substantially to said predetermined distance.

3. A miniature tennis game to be played with balls, comprising a generally parallelepipedic case including two longitudinal and two shorter transverse walls, said longitudinal walls of the case being provided with equal elongated ports extending longitudinally thereof, a hood of transparent material adapted to cap said case to confine the ballsinside the latter during the playing, a plate forming a tennis ground area inside said case, the longitudinal sides of which register with the longitudinal walls of the case, at least one of the transverse sides of said area plate being spaced by a predetermined distance from the adjacent transverse wall of the case, an upwardly open ball-collecting compartment formed in the case between said spaced transverse side of the area plate and adjacent transverse wall of the case, a plate-shaped racket extending above said compartment, a hand-operated spindle slidingly and revolvably carried in said cooperating elongated ports and adapted to be shifted longitudinally of the latter, said spindle carrying and controlling said racket plate, and the length of which is larger than the spacing between two longitudinal walls of the case, the transverse size of the racket plate in a direction parallel with the spindle being smaller than the breadth of said compartment, and the longitudinal size of the racket plate being smaller than the said predetermined distance by an amount equal to the length of the ports.

4. A miniature tennis game to be played with balls, comprising a generally parallelepipedic case including two longitudinal and two shorter transverse walls a hood of transparent material adapated to cap said case to confine the balls inside the latter during the playing, two plates sloping to either side of a central ridge, extending transversely between the two medial points of the longitudinal walls of the case, to form two symmetrical tennis ground areas and the rear ends of which are spaced inwardly of the corresponding transverse walls of the case, a net fitted above said central ridge, a ball-collecting upwardly open compartment lying between the outer edge of each sloping plate between the latter and the corresponding transverse wall of the case, a racket plate pivotally carried above each compartment, a spindle extending across the case transversely thereof in substantial registry with the outer edge of each area plate rigid with the corresponding racket plate and adapted to revolve in unison with the latter to hit a ball over the net onto the other area plate.

5. A miniature tennis game to be played with balls, comprising a generally parallelepipedic case including two longitudinal and two shorter transverse walls, a hood of transparent material adapted to cap said case to confine the balls inside the latter during the playing, said hood being provided with an opening for the introduction of a ball inside the case in registry with at least one of the transverse walls of the case, a plate forming a tennis ground area inside said case, and the longitudinal sides of which register with the longitudinal walls of the case, at least one of the transverse sides of said area plate being spaced by a predetermined distance from the adjacent transverse wall of the case, an upwardly open ballcollecting compartment formed in the case between said spaced transverse side, of the area plate and adjacent transverse wall of the case, a plate-shaped racket extending above said compartment, a hand-operated revolvable and sliding spindle extending transversely of the case, controlling said racket plate, and the length of which is larger than the spacing between two longitudinal walls of the case, the transverse size of the racket plate in a direction parallel with the spindle being smaller than the breadth of said compartment, and means for guiding with a clearance said spindle through at least one longitudinal wall of the case.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,407,215 Post Feb. 21, 1922 2,720,397 Blanton Oct. :11, 1955 2,735,682 Sweet Feb. 21, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 355,805 Italy Jan. 18, 1938 1,114,892 France Sept. 26, 1955 

